Fig. 1: Increased levels of CD8+ T cells expressing cytotoxic mediators in the blood of ACPA+ RA patients.
From: Cytotoxic CD8+ T cells target citrullinated antigens in rheumatoid arthritis
a Frequency of CD8+ T cells among total lymphocytes in PBMCs from healthy controls (HC; n = 30), ACPA− RA (n = 14), and ACPA+ RA (n = 45) measured by flow cytometry (*P = 0.0179, or ***P = 0.0001). b Spearman’s correlation between the ratio of CD8+ T cells and serum anti-CCP antibody (surrogate for ACPA) levels in RA (n = 39; R = 0.5434, P = 0.0004). c–e Percentage of CD69, GPR56, or TCRγδ-expressing CD8+ T cells: HC (n = 30), ACPA− RA (n = 14), and ACPA+ RA (n = 45). For c, *P = 0.0355, or *P = 0.0233. For d, *P = 0.0231. For e, *P = 0.0120, or *P = 0.0237. f Representative flow cytometry results (upper) and quantified graphs (lower) of GzmB, or GzmK expressing CD8+ T cells in HC (n = 9 for GzmK, or 11 for GzmB) and ACPA+ RA (n = 10 for GzmK, or 11 for GzmB). For GzmB+CD8+ T cells, **P = 0.0014. g Flow cytometry analysis of memory subsets of CD8+ T cells: CCR7hiCD45RAhi (Naïve), CCR7hiCD45RAlow (CM, Central memory), CCR7lowCD45RAlow (EM, Effector memory), CCR7lowCD45RAhi (EMRA, Effector Memory cells Re-expressing CD45RA) (upper). Quantified proportion of each memory subset in HC (n = 30), ACPA− RA (n = 14), or ACPA+ RA (n = 45) patients (lower). In N, **P = 0.004, or ***P < 0.001. In EM, *P = 0.03. In EMRA, ***P < 0.001. Data are presented as means ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, or ***P < 0.001 by ordinary one-way ANOVA (a, c–f), and two-way ANOVA (g) with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. ns, not significant. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. ACPA anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, RA rheumatoid arthritis, CCP cyclic citrullinated peptide, GzmB Granzyme B, GzmK Granzyme K.
